LDUNN1

Very Nice Martyn!!

Nice! that looks like it is a very nice target!

Any PPing on that Keiran?

excellent feedback Shaun - many thanks......I have a tendancy to over do things on the PP side. I'll take a closer look at the points you identified & have another play. Cheers!

13x5min at 1600iso.

I've probably over processed, I've been trying out loads of new things on the processing side.

the result looked 'okay' when I was doing it, but it looks like the shrinking to 1200px & jpg compression has done horrible things to the IQ......it now looks like a water colour!!!

I'll have to play some more with it.

......taken on 9th/10th Aug 2011 from my back garden......M51 is a bit low for imaging, & disappeared behind some trees, so I had a limited number of subs......& a fair bit of light pollution......not a good mix really, still it helps develop the post process skills that I know I am short on......

......well spotted opportunity - great positioning of the Moon & Jupiter! Love it!

......I'll wait till I have a bahtinov mask before I do that test....just to ensure I get the infocus one right!

......I will do this though, & would really appreciate the analysis - if indeed there is an issue.

......your closing line made me laugh out loud - I hadn't thought of it that way!

.......oh yeah, btw Martyn, I DO have liveview on my camera, & I STILL can't get focus right ;-)

......if only there was a way to use the cameras AF system on these 'scopes ;-0

"Nice thing about your out-of-focus star is that it proves you have a triplet apo"

......ahhh, my secrets out, the out of focus was intentional ;-)

......It has proved a useful test actually, apart from the OOF issue, the full image shows only a little vignetting around the sides/corners......& I suspect that most of this is due to the adapter used to join camera to scope. The full image was very usable except for the very outer edges, & this is one reason I went for this type of scope - it is one of the few that can fully illuminate a full 35mm sized negative (it actually can do better than that). I have mailed the 'scope manufacturers as they do special adapters for Canon Eos cameras that should eliminate any vignetting due to the adapter I am currently using. They also do a telecompressor (0.75x) & field flattener......The compressor will come in handy, as the scope is relatively slow/long at f9, but I don't know if the field flattener is worth going for yet......although it does seem to me that there are some mis-shaped stars towards the RHS of the image.....but that might be indicative of a collimation issue????

It is funny that you saw RAF roundel's, I saw donuts ;-)

Cheers Martyn - I had not heard of that type of Mask b4......i just googled it & found:-

"As the images merge as you get close to focus, the exact point of best focus can sometimes be difficult to determine."

"As the aperture is stopped down with the mask, the focal ratio increases. A 4 inch f/8 scope will become a 2 inch f/16 scope with a Hartmann mask with 2 inch holes in it. As the focal ratio increases, so does the depth of focus. So focusing with the Hartmann mask is less critical than the actual focus when the mask is removed. This can lead to a false sense of security and accuracy. "

"I don't really recommend using a Hartmann mask anymore since the development of the Bahtinov mask, which is superior for helping attain focus."

........interesting, as I had never heard of this b4, but I am glad I'm going with the Bahtinov!

;-) it does look like that doesn't it! I am amazed on how '3d' it looks, to my eyes it really does look like a ball of diamonds.

Just wish I had nailed the focus, USM can only get you so far......still in a week or two I should have the focus mask, so that will help, I have also ordered the SW electric focuser, don't know if I'll be able to modify it to work on my 'scope, but it seemed like it was worth a shot.....scope is hard to focus as image wobbles like jelly when I touch the focus knobs.

Last night was really just meant as a 'shake down test' of my kit after some major re-arrangements due to the issues I've been having, so any imaging was just a bonus!

thx John.

Camera is a Canon 5dmk2, lens is the Canon 15mm EF Fisheye.

I did 4 shots to cover the sky - I think each was a 30 sec exposure, probably wide open at f2.8......sorry, I can't recall the ISO I used & I don't have access to the photos right now to check - will try & post later.

Cheers.....I still can't get rid of the bright horizon sky, which is limiting my ability to pull out the MW.......hopefully this is an improvement on what I posted before.

Do you prefer the horizontal or vertical layout?

If/When I do this again, I am going to put the MW off center so I can get Land in on 3 sides.

Star - I don't know.....I've wondered that as there were a number of shooters that night that we all saw. I don't think that it is a plane though. my guess is a shooter or a satellite. What do others think?

.........I'll 'breath' on it somemore tonight before posting - I want to change the orientation & try & bring out the MW while suppressing the bright horizon. Thx.

.....thx Russ.....not sure which main forum you are talking about....

.......when I get time, I will try some more processing on this image to see if I can bring out the MW more.....& I think I prefer the image rotated 90 deg anticlockwise......wish I'd got the horizon in fully on 3 sides too......something to try next time maybe.....

thx for all the positve feedback!

.....yeah, like the gazebo being setup in the background Shaun ;-)

That's ace Keiran!.....having seen a few of your shots on the camera LCD on the night, I knew you were getting some good one in.

......I know how you feel ref the wasted opportunity.....but remember, none of use expected to be doing any observing when we first were all standing in that car park.....I still can't believe how lucky we were.......

blimey - you studied that well! ;-)

......if the night had not felt so short (after I had stopped 'messing about' on the visual side ;-) ) I would probably have re-done my alignment Like you Keiran......but I knew I was compromised in other areas for imaging anyway.....

.......quite a nice one to show the lack of cloud after such a poor start to the evening......you just can't tell sometimes can you?

;-) .......morale of the story is: be careful where you set up!!! I lost count of the number of times I went through it!